Recently in Comic Books Category

Daybreak started out as a big mystery to me. I picked-up the second issue, recognized that the art was obviously my style, and so I bought it, at the same time ordering the firs issue. I waited till I had both to read them, and I was glad for it. These two issues have left me ready for more.

Brian Ralph lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, Megan, and their son, Miles. (That's what I want to name my son.) (Someday.)

Ralph posts various illustrations on a blog he shares with 12 other talented people. Daybreak, which has had two physically published issues, is a story he's been posting in pieces. Those two issues get you through part 38, which ends with a cliffhanger. If you dig through the blog (seriously, guys, a little navigation help, please), you'll find he's up to #53 thus far.

Isaac Butler's diablog response to my Essential Reading post on Kevin Huizenga's work is right here.

In it he details not only some of the reasons he digs Kevin H., but also the one major shortcoming he finds in Huizenga's work. A couple of quotations from his post sum it up nicely.

What happens in one issue has only cursory bearing on another. Glenn Ganges is in many ways like a bulletin board that Huizenga uses to pin whatever he wants to talk about to.

...

I'm unsure what the stakes are within Huizenga's world, and I'm unsure what my relationship to his characters are supposed to be.

Isaac then asks...

Is it wrong for me to have this quibble while enjoying rather profoundly each individual Huizenga story? ... Should I just relax and quit my bitching and enjoy the riches that are there? Do you think Huizenga is deliberately playing with how character is represented in narrative? Do you think I've totally got my head up my ass here? And weren't we supposed to talk about Ganges #2 which Douglas Wolk called "the kind of thing I want to hand to people who ask 'what kind of comics do you like?'"

So, in order ... No, maybe, sometimes, kind of, and yes we were.

Isaac Butler of the Parabasis (theatre, comics, the universe, and everything) blog knows I'm a fan of Kevin Huizenga, and invited me to have a diablog with him about the latest issue of Ganges, Huizenga's occasional series for Fantagraphics about Glenn Ganges, Huizenga's possibly somewhat-semi-autobiographical stand-in and everyman.

Well, I'm happy to oblige. We'll be talking about Ganges #2 tomorrow some, so I thought I'd get a jump on it by talking a little bit about what I admire so much in Kevin H.'s work.

We are fortunate in that Douglas Wolk included a review of the Huizenga collection Curses in his wonderful tome Reading Comics. I've taken a good deal of notes myself, but I'll be referencing Wolk often, I'm sure.

There are several hallmarks to Huizenga's comics of which I'm particularly fond.

His penchant for layering stories within stories (and sometimes within another layer or two of stories).

His formal experimentation.

His mixing of fiction on non-fiction.

His concern for everything.

New X-Men by Grant Morrison - Ultimate Collection Vol. 1
Okay, now I'm starting to get why they call him the "God of Comics". I wasn't that much of a fan before, I must admit.

These comics are amazing, though. Highly recommended.

Sky Doll #1
I wanna start with this one, both because I enjoyed it so much, and because it's so, so unusual.

I tend to think of the guys at Marvel as being much like the guys that hang-out too much at my local comic shop - under-sexed, over-stimulated cretins. Marvel makes so damned many cash-grabs per month that's it's difficult to believe that they occasionally artists.

How did it come to pass that Marvel is publishing a bunch of French comics? And comics with nudity and mature thought at that?

I may never know the answer, but for the moment I'm grateful.

As it's creators note in the helpful comments near the back of this 54-page, almost adless monster, the art is a combo of manga, European, and American comics. Let's put it this way: The faces are manga, the pizzazz is American, and the colors are European. But let me tell you - the grace is all French. As is the fact that this cute, cartoony book, full of bouncing boobs and bare bottoms is actually trying to get to deep philosophical territory by talking about religion, of all things.

This first issue is a hefty 44 pages of solid story, but it's a page-turner. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the characters, figuring out the dilemmas the series is meant to explore, and I'm happy to report that the sky doll herself is a likeable figure capable of well-earned joy but providing glimpses of real loneliness and frustration as well.

We know Marvel couldn't possibly be doing this for the money, but it can't hurt if this book turns out to be a minor hit. So, support the cause and pick-up your copy today.

Secret Invasion #1, 2

The best thing about Secret Invasion so far is that Mockingbird is in it. I have the entire run of West Coast Avengers and she's totally great. Hawkeye totally went downhill after she died.

In #2. See Captain America call Iron Man "shellhead" was great too. It immediately lets you know what era these folks are supposed to be from. There's a missed opportunity here, though. On that big double splash-page, Cap says "damn." The Captain America of the time he's supposed to represent wouldn't have said damn in a comic. So, Bendis, one step forward, two steps back.

Anyway, this plot gets more dark and twisty with every passing moment. I hope it actually makes sense in the end, and that Bendis manages to avoid a Civil War-style anti-climax.

It's also interesting to see how the Avengers books have basically become Secret Invasion extensions. No Avengers appeard in this week's. Heck, I couldn't even tell you which book it was.

Coming from Jeff Lemire and Vertigo.

And yes, I will gladly shill for Jeff Lemire.

I got this today. If you're not reading these, I assume it's because you already have the whole series. I finished the first collection what seems like years ago and I've been salivating uncontrollably ever since.

It's maybe the best looking collection of it's kind of ever seen. And the comics are the bomb. Yes, I think that's the perfect word for them - the bomb.

Fact: Measuring approximately 13.25" across, the entire collection of Cerebus phonebooks will fit perfectly within one of the shelf spaces in an IKEA Expedit bookcase.

Coincidence? Or a sinister Swedish-Canadian conspiracy to foist Abrahamic monotheism and misogynist philosophy upon consumers of inexpensive minimalist home furnishings?

Reading + Blogging: 1.23.08
I've got something to say about this stuff.

Northlanders #1,2
Brian Wood rocks. And he puts out of lot of stuff, really. This book doesn't seem to lack any of the quality of DMZ or any of Wood's other recent hits. I read somewhere that this will one of those books where different characters will get the spotlight for several issues at a time. Wood's gonna jump around to different time periods as well, giving us lots of different perspectives on the these Northern peoples. Awesome.

Well, first-up is the story of Sven the Returned. So far, it's Hamlet. Sven returns home to find that his Uncle Gorm is ruling the land and has most likely killed his father.

Issue one sets the story in motion, showing Sven confronting Gorm and Gorm's less than hospitable welcoming of Sven. Issue two kicks into the action, as Sven takes out a would-be-assasin, beats-up a girl, and then (as the cover indicates) gets some well-earned nookie.

Wood is blessed to be working with another artist who seems to understand his story-telling instinctively, and provides moody landscapes and widescreen action to match each moment appropriately. Gianfelice's pencils are sometimes as savage as his subject, but he still has humor to spare when the moment demands it.